Top Ten Tuesday: Ways in which I want to improve, bookish edition

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Today is actually a freehie which means we get to choose which topic to make a list from. I'm still kind of inspired by the New Year so I'm going to talk about the ways in which I want to improve - bookish edition.

Read for me and not for everyone else
I want to read books I actually want to read and not just what everyone else is reading. I love talking about books with other people, but if I'm not that interested I probably shouldn't read it.

DNF
I seriously need to get better when it comes to DNF-ing (mark books as 'did not finish'). I am quite terrible at it and I always just push myself to read it through - or I put it down if it's one of my own books and it's going to collect dust on my shelf. I should probably give those books away.

Read my shelf
Yes, this is one of my challenges this year - basically because I suck. I buy a bunch of books and then they just sit on my shelf for at least a couple of months. I need to stop always reading review-books and books from the library.

Buy less
This counts for everything but mainly books. I'm quite the book hoarder and 2016 is the year where that ends! In January I've received 5 books so far and I haven't actually bought any of them - so at least I'm on track.

Snack healthier
I always munch on something while reading so why not make those snacks fruits, vegetables, nuts etc. instead of all that sugar? It's actually a resolution of mine this year; to become healthier, but I haven't actually shared that one with you guys.

Write reviews within 24 hours of finishing a book

I still have 3 books I read back in December waiting to be reviewed, and the books I read now is also neglected due to those 3 books. I need to become better at writing a review almost immediately after finishing a book. 

Take the time to read more lengthy books

Don't really read books with 500+ Pages that often. That needs to change.

In which ways do you want to improve?

Cover reveal - In the After by Elisa Dane

In the After by Elisa Dane 

Published by: Swoon Romance

Publication date: February 2nd 2016

Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult 

Reading challenges and goals for 2016

I have a few reading resolutions, challenges and goals for 2016 and I'm really hoping that I can accomplish all of them!

Read 100 books

Since I've read a bit over a 100 books these past two years I figured I might as well set my goal accordingly! 

Finish 7-10 series (and continue series)

The series I plan to finish, or catch up on, at the moment, are: 

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (3 books)
A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (6 books)
Fifty Shades by E.L. James (1 book)
The Dispossessed by Page Morgan (1 book)
Never Never by Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher (1 novella)
The Selection by Kiera Cass (2 books)
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han (1 book)
You by Caroline Kepnes (1 book)
More Than by Jay McLean (4 books)
The Shamer Chronicles by Lene Kaaberbøl (3 books)

I'm also going to participate in the Finishing the Series challenge with is hosted by Bea @ Bea's Book Nook. I've of course chosen level 4 - expert series reader which is quite ironic since I'm quite bad at reading series! 

Read (much) less YA

I seriously read way too much YA since I'm a reviewer for multiple YA publishers, but I also buy and borrow YA - that should definitely decrease! 

Re-read 5 books

I'm not too good at re-reading books.. I definitely neglect the books I have read so I want to revisit some old favorites. Maybe next year I take the whole Harry Potter series again? 

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
The Shamer's Daughter (The Shamer Chronicles, #1) by Lene Kaaberbøl
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin 

Read my shelf

I counted all of my books and turns out that I have 160 unread books on my shelves at the moment and 76 read. I seriously need to read some of them, my particular goal is 50-60 books. 

I got my boyfriend to choose 12 books from my shelves that I have to read, or reread, in 2016! Here's the complete list:

January - Us by David Nicholls
February -  White Queen by Gwyneth Jones
March - The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
April - Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
May - The Golden Key (Den gyldne nøgle) by Lene Dybdahl
June - The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) by Brandon Sanderson
July - The Well of Ascension (Mistborn, #2) by Brandon Sanderson
August - The Hero of Ages (Mistborn, #3) by Brandon Sanderson
September - Plain Nonsense (Hul i hovedet) af Nicole Boyne Rødtnes
October - Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald
November - Three Little Words by Jessica Thompson
December - The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum

I'm also going to participate in the 2016 read my books challenge which is hosted by The Worn Bookmark.  

Read 1 book from Netgalley each month

I've actually been quite good when it comes to netgalley and my percentage is currently 89% and I have 12 galleys to read and review so I definitely believe I can do it! 

I'm also going to participate in the 2016 netgalley reading challenge which is hosted by Fictively. I've chosen level 'medium' which is 11-20 books. 

Read 10 classics

I love my classics and since I also have my 20 before 20 list I need to get a move on if I want to read those books before I turn 20 in March 2017. I'm also quite glad that our bookclub mainly reads classics! 

12 audiobooks

I just got a yearlong subscription to storytel which is the Danish equivalent of audible - except; you get to read all the books you want, you can't listen to them or read them (there's also ebooks) if you cancel your subscription, like you can with audible. That is why I want to listen to at least 1 audiobook each month! 

I'm also going to participate in the 2016 audiobook challenge which is hosted by The Book Nymph and Hot Listens. I've chosen 'stenographer' which is 10-15 books.  

Yearlong reading experiences

As I mentioned above I want to reread The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin this year, and since it's divided into 12 chapters/12 months I figured I would read a chapter a month.
I also received a book called 365 stories by James Robertson last year, there's 365 stories (one for each day of the year) and each one is 365 words long!
My goal is to read both of those books during the year. 

Make a new 'for review' spreadsheet - and actually use it

I spent quite a lot of time last year, or maybe the year before, on making a review spreadsheet. I used it for a couple of months and then I neglected it. This year I want to be more organized and this is one of the steps I will take to do just that! 

Update my online library at libib.com

Again, organization. I discovered libib.com last year and you can read all about it here. It's basically an online library! I really want to keep more track of the books I have and this is the best way I know at the moment. 

Update my review archive on a regular basis

I know I'm not the only one who neglects their review archive! But I really want to be better at updating it... 

Make a new blog-planner

I made one last year and I became quite organized because of it. I also really got into blogging again so hopefully the same things will happen this time too! 

Learn French

I absolutely love French! I played around with duolingo last year and it definitely helped. I don't need to be able to speak the language, just read it. 

Drink more water

This is a personal goal I usually have. So why not this year too? I can already tell you that I've started drinking much more water than in 2015! 

Become more organized

I'm tired of feeling like my life is messy and I just want to be an organized person so I don't have to remember everything and just relax!